Guardian Island's RumpUs Rooms:
Help and info for Using the Guardian Island Chatrooms

Moderators & Chaperones

Because we want all of GI to be a haven for emotionally-real Innerkids, we do our best to keep the chatrooms emotionally safe.

That's why we thank you so very much for volunteering to be a moderator on GI.

And by emotionally-safe, we mean keeping the atmosphere on GI (in the chatrooms and in the forum) one where Innerkids can feel relatively care-free from predators and manipulators and trouble-makers.

We've usually tried to keep such Moderation to a minimum, as Residents are encouraged thoroughly (in welcome and help docs) to bring their adult side with them as their "primary Guardian" -- they've been instructed that they're primarily responsible for exiting a situation that makes them feel unsafe, despite that we do try hard to keep an eye on things.

Different Innerkids get different things from different roleplay, so micro-managing them as if they were actual Biokids, who need to be kept safe from themselves and watched very carefully all the time, just isn't realistic.

Think in terms of being there to prevent "violence", whether emotional or "physical", rather than to be their parent or teacher or babysitter.

If things get unpleasant between two or more people (bickering, "he-said/she-said" dramas), please just ask them to take it private. They can do that with private messages in the chatrooms, via PMs, or off-Island.

If they break actual rules, please point them to the rules, and avoid as best you can debating the points with them. It undermines your authority, IMHO, and you'll find that many troublemakers are pretty much bottomless attention suck-pits, so keeping you engaged about whether they have or haven't broken a rule is often a pleasant pasttime for them.

If they talk back, or break the rule again, then please just let me know. Using me as a "scapegoat", or the "bad cop", is something I think will make it easier for you to hang around the chatrooms if you want to, leaving it up to the evil, tyrranical UB to deal with the true n'er-do-wells.

If someone serially disrupts things with their behavior, but doesn't really break any rules per se, please bring that to the LG and to me.

If someone continues to be generally disruptive after they've been gagged or banned, and clearly warned, then please PM me and I'll talk to them about whether GI is going to be the right place for them after all.

The Practicalities of Chatroom Moderation

As moderators you will be identified as such by a small "M" icon beside your name in the Room/Resident list, and the Resident docs suggest private messenging any Moderator in the rooms as a first step if they're concerned about someone's behavior.

Some of you, we know, won't often be hanging around the chatrooms themselves, but have volunteered to be part of the LG to "Chaperone" various gatherings. But in terms of authority, there are only "Moderators" and you all have the same tools at your disposal (below).
 

Moderating a live environment is a little different than moderating the main community. Things happen with immediacy and can't be taken back or edited once they have. Our power to enforce the rules is as limited here as it is anywhere on the Net: We can kick someone out and we can ban the IP address with which they're connected to the Net. But anyone can get around that if they want to (by anonymizing their IP or by reconnecting with a different account, etc., giving them a new IP address).

So this recourse boils down to making it more trouble than it's worth for someone who wants to make trouble, and keeps coming back, by banning whatever IP range they're using at the moment, whenever they come back, and usually, at some point, even the dinkiest troll gets bored and goes away.

Obviously we don't expect to have a lot of these troubles, but the subject matter attracts a lot of very bad people, so we need to be prepared.

Moderating Policies

You will be identifiable to other Residents as a moderator, and the docs encourage Residents to seek one of you out if they think something wrong is going on by private-messaging you.

But experience shows that at times we will have to distance ourselves from things that Residents want us to moderate. Interpersonal squabbles sometimes lead to someone feeling that another is violating the rules by being mean to them.

We feel that a minimalist approach is most effective here. If someone is genuinely violating the rules then please follow the simple steps of:

(1) Come into the room and private-message the person, identify yourself as a moderator, and let them know that they should read the rules as their behavior is disrupting things -- just point them to the links at the top of the chatrooms.

(2) If they cop a 'tude or repeat the behavior, then private-message them and tell them that they're being asked to leave for the day, and use the "KICK" feature (*link to docs) and set it for 24 hours.

(3) Please PM me when this happens (link at top of chatroom) with the person's username and a brief description of why they were kicked, and I'll take it from there.

The vaguer complaints are the hardest. Reportage like "This guy gives me the creeps", "He keeps talking to me when I move to other rooms", "She keeps saying mean things to me" are hard to moderate, and while my instinct and desire is to protect Innerkids enough that people who gives kidz the creeps would be watched carefully and given little shrift for their behavior in the community, we just can't do that in a live place where people come and go all the time.

So for vaguer complaints about things which aren't specific violations of the rules, please counsel the complainant privately that she doesn't have to talk to that person, point them to the docs *link which explain how to "ignore" someone else, but mostly try not to get sucked into interpersonal issues -- it usually leads to more trouble down the line, and we want our beloved Residents to follow our advice and keep their Bigperson near enough at hand to know what to do to stay safe around strangers.

Thank you VERY much for your volunteerism, and please feel free to discuss this stuff in the private LG room in the Commons.
 

Moderating Powers

As a moderator you will see some features on the Special Resident menu (click on the Resident's name in the Room/Resident list on the right), including banning them. In addition you'll have several commands that Residents can't use.

Obviously, use these with discretion, but on the other hand please err on the side of caution when it comes to the emotional well-being of Innerkids. You're part of the LG because I trust you, so follow your tummy and I'm sure it'll work out fine.

For now, if you do use any of the below powers, please drop me a note about it so I can maintain the ban (their permanence has to be set by me), and since we're newly re-opening these rooms with new folks. Thanks. :)

Moderating Commands

Kicking a user from the room results in an automatic ban. A banned user may not enter the room. Bans can only be removed by the me or Carolyn (Administrator security levels, that is) so let us know if you have to take these measures.

(I didn't write the below descriptions as these commands emulate IRC-style commands -- this is some stock descriptors)

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Creating Rooms

Moderators have the ability to create new rooms which will exist as long as they're occupied.

You will see an [ADD] button beside the drop-down room selector near the top of the screen. The options

PRIVATE ROOMS

Private rooms are invisible to all Residents. They won't appear on the right-hand room list or the drop-down room selector. To bring people into a private room simply go into it yourself, then click the other person in the right-hand room list -- on the pop-up menu that appears you'll see INVITE as an option. You'll be asked for an optional message, and then that person will be sent a private message asking if they want to join you in the room.

Private rooms exist only as long as they're occupied. They will disappear shortly after becoming empty, so move into them as soon as you create them if you want them to remain.

PUBLIC ROOMS

Public rooms appear just like the permanent rooms in the Room/Resident list, so please be appropriate naming them. You're given the option of setting a password for entry to the room.

Typically you would password protect a temporary room to control who joins you there, and would then use the INVITE command (by clicking a Resident's name in the Room/Resident list on the right) to send the password to others.

Created rooms disappear soon when they're empty, so move right into one if you create it, and when everyone leaves it will be removed automatically.

This is a feature that for now we've decided not to allow to regular Residents. We'd prefer that the rooms are used for building feelings of community and family, so people cloistering themselves off in their own rooms defeats that purpose.

So please don't use this feature excessively. We pictured it being for having, say, a conference with several people in a dispute, or that sort of thing.